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Keyword search: Environment

By JACK SUNTRUP

The gypsy moth caterpillar’s on-again, off-again reign of destruction over Massachusetts forests starts in 1868 or 1869 in Medford.Leopold Trouvelot was an amateur entomologist who, in 1852, left France as Napoleon III was fastening his grip on power....

Gazette Staff

BOSTON — Protecting nearly 2,000 acres in Shutesbury and Leverett, more than 1,000 acres in Westhampton and in excess of 600 acres in Plainfield are among four conservation projects getting state grants, according to an announcement from the...

By AMANDA DRANE

GREAT BARRINGTON — The last of 24 pipeline protesters arrested in Sandisfield earlier this month — the majority of whom are from the Pioneer Valley — had their criminal charges reduced to civil infractions Thursday at the Southern Berkshire District...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — In 1995, Boston-area native Albert Sacco Jr. hurtled into space at 17,596 mph and saw “the blackest black you’ve ever seen.” “Blacker than the blackest velvet,” he said of space to a room of patients and other visitors at the CareOne at...

By DUSTY CHRISTENSEN

AMHERST — Earth is in the midst of a mass extinction of animal life, and the term “Anthropocene extinction” gives an obvious clue as to the cause: human activity.Due to everything from habitat destruction to environmental degradation and climate...

By JACK SUNTRUP

Winter ticks, it seems, live by climate change and die by climate change.The parasitic blood-suckers have hammered the New England moose population for years. Shorter winters mean a greater likelihood tick larvae live long enough to grab onto a host....

By AMANDA DRANE

SANDISFIELD — Climate activists continue to stand their ground against preliminary construction of a pipeline in the Otis State Forest.Police arrested six more over the weekend, including five from the Pioneer Valley. All members of the Sugar Shack...

By EMILY CUTTS

Many of the schools that didn’t take part in recent voluntary state tests for lead and copper in water say they already have programs in place to detect potential threats to student health.When they find a problem, district officials say they solve it...

By Naila Moreira

The very schools we depend on to educate our children could be making them less smart.Drinking water in schools across Massachusetts, including here in the Pioneer Valley, has been found to contain lead significantly exceeding safety standards. Lead...

By JACK SUNTRUP

The state has completed a first-round probe into lead and copper levels in school water sources, and found 21 out of 25 participating Hampshire County schools have high levels of lead in at least one fixture.The voluntary program, coordinated by the...

By RICHIE DAVIS

SANDISFIELD — Eighteen protesters, including 12 from Hampshire County, were arrested Tuesday morning at the entrance to Otis State Forest after they blocked a pipeline project access road.Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. contractors were attempting to begin...

AMHERST — Entomologists at University of Massachusetts Amherst report that some of this season’s first gypsy moth egg masses have begun to hatch, as observed on April 26 in Belchertown at a location off Route 202.Extension entomologist Tawny Simisky...

By RICHIE DAVIS

Pink, glorious pink! A section of the hillside overlooking Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield looks like those pink pussycat hats dotting the national mall in January, and for many, the return of peach blossoms after their freakish absence last spring...

By JACK SUNTRUP

FLORENCE — Members of the Broad Brook Coalition on Sunday afternoon celebrated improvements to the 850-acre Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area, with sunny, clear skies as a backdrop.The improvements — a new bridge leading to trails, a raised boardwalk...

By STEPHANIE MURRAY

AMHERST — For a longtime Amherst resident, it is not unusual to wander through a daylong festival dedicated to sustainability, or to watch a protest head down the street with banners waving. But for those who haven’t lived in the Valley as long, like...

By JACK SUNTRUP

NORTHAMPTON — When scientists talk dire impacts of climate change in say 2050, or 2100, the far-away dates can be hard to put into perspective. For Peter Ives, the problem does not seem so distant. He thinks of his 2-year-old granddaughter Ila. “I...

By PETER IVES

It was while looking at the distant stars in the night sky that the book of Genesis became important to me. “In the beginning God created the heaven and earth and God said, ‘Let there be light.’ ”My favorite theologian Paul Tillich used to say, “When...

Arguing climate change reality a distraction President Trump tells us climate change/global warming is a hoax. I wish I knew exactly what he means.After all, climate change melted away the glacial ice sheet that once covered the land that became his...

By JACK SUNTRUP

ORANGE — Rodney Flagg sat under a lamp at the front of his bait and tackle shop tying up a batch of Winnie Squid flies. Every so often, the front door squeaked open, and a fisherman walked in.“That time of year!” one told Flagg, 79. The angler would...

By JOSHUA SOLOMON

TURNERS FALLS — A black bear was the main attraction in town on Wednesday.Cars slowed down by the intersection of Montague and Dell streets, with some people getting out to see if the town’s sleepy neighbor was still hanging out up a tall tree in a...